Tag: happiness

Recently, I received the following email: “Hello Scott, We’re a PR firm representing a toothpaste company. We’ve commissioned some research on how much Aussie kids get from the Tooth Fairy. Can we pay you to comment on the research for our press release?” “No” was my firm answer. I mean,...

If you see a Millennial — a person aged between 18 and 34 — go up and give them a great big hug. They need it. Australian Millennials are among the most miserable young people on the planet — well, according to the findings of a new survey released by...

About four years ago, my wife entered our living room waving a pregnancy stick above her head like she was Mitchell Johnson triumphantly screaming HOWZAT! at the umpire. “We’re pregnant!” she cheered. I was like a defiant Indian batsman disputing the inside edge. “Give me a look.” We both stared...

My column last week — why engagement rings are a scam (and why you’ll buy one anyway) — went off like a drunk uncle on the dance floor. I was flooded with emails. Perhaps it’s because we’re in the peak season for weddings. Or maybe it’s because it coincided with...

It hit me this week. After spending the last 18 months planning, designing, and building, we’ve finally settled into our ‘dream home’. And let me tell you it feels…‘okay’. I mean it’s a nice house, but it’s not like I wake up early to admire the designer taps in the...

You’re seven hours old. As I sit here beside your crib, typing ever-so-quietly, sneaking a look every so often at your squished-up face (hey, it’s been a rough day), I can’t get over that you’re just so … new. Baby, you’ve got something that everyone wants a lot more of....

Mothers. Fathers. Husbands. Wives. Every one of them betrayed. Yes, as we’ve learned this week, 37 million members of the world’s second largest dating website, Ashley Madison (catch-cry “Life is short. Have an Affair”), have had their personal details hacked. What a total betrayal of their trust! The hackers, who...

We’ve all read the research about how to achieve happiness: lay off the booze, get more exercise, spend less time in the office and more time with your family. Uh-huh. Yet what happens when you ask 19,914 ordinary Aussies what really makes them happy? That’s what one of Australia’s largest...

Last year our family home burned to the ground, with everything still inside it.
This week, after 488 (often sleepless) nights, we are finally back on the farm. In fact I’m typing this from my brand-spanking new deck, overlooking the dam.
It’s our slice of heaven — but we had to go through hell to get it. So let me tell you about those 488 days, and the things we learned along the way….

I must have sat through hundreds of investment lectures in my lifetime - but there’s only one that
literally made my jaw drop. Let me tell you about it.
It happened a few weeks ago in Omaha, at a talk that featured Warren Buffett’s only daughter, Susie, answering questions from the audience. A young Asian kid put up his hand and asked, “What would you do if your father had given you $10 million on your eighteenth birthday?”

Tuesday, 5pm, bath time.
I’m going toe to toe with my toddler Louie, and losing. Badly.
“Oh come on! You brush your teeth for your mother every single night! If she comes in here and finds you haven’t done your teeth, we’re both in trouble.”
But it was no use. The more I pleaded, the tighter he gritted his teeth.
I knew what he wanted.

I’ve teared up twice since we lost our family home in the bushfires three months ago. The first was when I was reunited with my wife and son — but really, they were tears of relief. (In our makeshift rented home we have a sign that says “home is wherever I am...

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